Narcissistic Defenses

Narcissistic defenses are psychic procedures utilized by the ego, in the case where the latter is understood as the only (or almost only) object of investment by the libido. Their function is to protect the integrity and the psychic endurance of the ego. Precise indications of specifically narcissistic defenses are not to be found in the works of Freud. However, the concept appeared in relation to a number of topics: infantile omnipotence, idealization of the love object, paranoid projection, counter investment in the external world, the...